


the myriad ways that I love you

by shellfishDimes



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: Background Poly, Canon Compliant, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Hawaii, Kissing, M/M, OT4, Photography, Polyamory, Summer Love, Summer Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 08:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18869803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shellfishDimes/pseuds/shellfishDimes
Summary: Seungyoon thinks he might be a little bit in love, maybe."Yeah, you are," Seunghoon tells him, at the end of a long day, in the cool dark of their shared room. He peels off his socks one by one, poking a big toe under the elastic band and flicking them to the floor. "Join the club. You're not special.""There's no reason to be worried." Seunghoon kicks the pillow off the bed. "Just kiss him or whatever," Lee Seunghoon, Winner's self-proclaimed expert on all matters romantic and sexual, says. "See how it feels. We've all done it before."





	the myriad ways that I love you

**Author's Note:**

> [minho](https://www.instagram.com/p/BwqpdNThC_8/) and [yoon](https://www.instagram.com/p/BwbvOQehx62/) went for a sunset walk together. inspired by all of yoon's photos and how much I want a leica mp.

The sun is different everywhere. Even if it's coming from the same star, the rays fall down on the planet through a different sky, depending where you are.

There's a great big hole in the ozone layer over Australia, which means you can't stay outside for longer than fifteen minutes without getting sunburnt. In Busan, when spring cedes to summer, the sunshine bounces off the skyscrapers and gets down to the streets when its warmth has almost been seeped entirely. On the beach, with nothing to stop it, it warms your back in the evening as the East Sea rushes up to meet it, but can never quite get there. In Seoul, the sun is fickle, chilling when it looks warm, hiding behind clouds when you least expect it, and there are places up in Ihwa-dong where the houses are packed together so tight that the sun never hits the pavement.

In Hawaii, the sun is always warm, and always there. Even when it rains in the mountains, even on days it's overcast, there's a yellow disc outlined behind the clouds. They say that's the best time to be at the beach if you want to catch a tan, because it's not scorching hot, but you still get the UV rays piercing the clouds. 

There are three things Seungyoon always carries with him while they're in Hawaii — a camera, an extra roll of film, and sunscreen. Two tubes, a big one for his body, and a smaller, more expensive one for his face. The one for his body has the sweet chemical smell of all tacky, white sunscreens everywhere, the kind of smell that's impossible to associate with anything else except beaches and summertime. The smell sticks to his fingers and his clothes, like salt crystals stick to the little hairs on Seunghoon's forearms when the sea water dries on his skin after a swim.

They all get tans in no time at all. Even Jinwoo, who hides under a big hat and long linen sleeves on the first day, who is the palest of the four of them. Seungyoon stops wearing makeup once the film crew packs up and leaves, which is just as well, since his skin becomes at least one shade darker than his BB cream.

He stops doing a lot of things in Hawaii, like worrying, and setting an alarm every day, and keeping his accent in check, and wearing shoes unless he absolutely needs to. Seunghoon, teeth closed around a paper straw, slurping a fruit cocktail at the little beach bar they visit almost every afternoon, calls it a permanent flip flop state of mind.

There has to be something in the rays of the Hawaiian sun that makes them all look more beautiful than anywhere else. Seungyoon isn't sure he's taken enough rolls of film with him, because he doesn't seem to be able to stop taking photos of them. Seunghoon, with his ridiculous tie-dye shirt, Jinwoo with the concentrated face he pulls when he flies his drone, mouth half open and lips in a pout. And Minho, determined that he'll finally learn how to surf, as Seungyoon stands in the shallows with the sea up to his shins, laughing and taking photos of his failures. Minho, with the yellow diving mask that's the same colour of Seungyoon's Minolta, and Minho with his huge, ugly sunglasses and his smirk that stretches his lips and makes his piercing stand out.

When he has to change the film in his Leica for a second time, because he had to take photos of Minho goofing around using a palm leaf as a guitar with both his digital and his analog cameras, Seungyoon thinks he might be a little bit in love, maybe. 

"Yeah, you are," Seunghoon tells him, at the end of a long day, in the cool dark of their shared room. He peels off his socks one by one, poking a big toe under the elastic band and flicking them to the floor. "Join the club. You're not special."

Seungyoon hugs one of his spare pillows to his chest, and sighs. "I should be worried," he says to the ceiling, failing to make it a question even though he tries.

A pillow hits his elbow. "Take that one too, it's too hot for me," Seunghoon says. "What is it with Americans and putting like twenty-seven pillows on every bed," he grumbles.

Seungyoon lobs the pillow back. It hits Seunghoon's knees with an anticlimactic, sad little whomp. "Could I get some advice here, hyung."

"There's no reason to be worried." Seunghoon kicks the pillow off the bed. "Just kiss him or whatever," Lee Seunghoon, Winner's self-proclaimed expert on all matters romantic and sexual, says. "See how it feels. We've all done it before."

The sun has gone down hours ago. They've turned off the lights in the room. Seungyoon's eyes widen in the dark. "You have?" Seunghoon hums in confirmation, the sound muffled by the shirt he's pulling off. "All of you?" Seunghoon hums again. He throws the shirt, and it lands perfectly on the chair that's in the corner, floating like a ghost for a moment before settling down over Seungyoon's canvas bag and a jumbo packet of nori snacks they'd brought with them from Seoul. "How come I haven't kissed anyone?"

Seunghoon shimmies out of his trousers. They join his shirt on the chair. He sits back down on his bed, pulling his legs up and holding onto his ankles, cross-legged, just in his underwear now. "Dunno," he says. He yawns wide, not bothering to cover his mouth. "You wanna do it now?" He pats the space next to him on the bed.

Seungyoon lifts himself up into a sitting position, letting his grip on the pillow loosen. It falls soundlessly to the floor between their beds. His feet hit the floor. The skin on his soles is tougher now, from how much time he's spent barefoot.

And then, he's kneeling on Seunghoon's bed, the mattress dipping under his weight. Seunghoon is turned to face him, and he's smiling softly, his dimples barely showing. He wore a yellow flower in his hair the other day. Seungyoon took a lot of photos of that. 

Seungyoon leans in, bracing a hand on the mattress so he doesn't fall forward, and touches their lips together. Seunghoon's lip balm rubs off on his mouth.

Seungyoon leans back.

Seunghoon opens his eyes. "Is that it?"

Seungyoon blinks at him. "I—"

"Is that how you're gonna kiss Minho?" Seunghoon rolls his eyes. "This isn't an ahjumma drama, come on." He taps a forefinger to his lower lip. "Like you mean it."

Seungyoon huffs in annoyance. He leans in again, but this time, he opens his mouth, and slides his tongue against Seunghoon's, his hand on the side of Seunghoon's face.

Seunghoon laughs in his throat, and then his hand is on Seungyoon's hip, and he's pulling himself closer. He tilts his head so that their noses don't push against each other, and Seungyoon has to follow the movement or risk breaking the kiss and just licking Seunghoon's chin, which he doesn't think is particularly sexy. 

They kiss until they both run out of breath, and when they separate, Seunghoon leaves one last, parting kiss on Seungyoon's lips. "See," Seunghoon says, "you're not bad at it."

Seungyoon sits back at the foot of the bed. He thinks that this, Seunghoon's tongue in his mouth, should have changed his life considerably. That he should be feeling somehow different, on a deep, molecular level.

"Thank you," he tells Seunghoon. "I guess." He rubs his lips together. He doesn't feel any different at all. 

Seunghoon kicks him off the bed, with the excuse that he wants to get some sleep and catch up on the game he's been playing on his phone before the leaderboards reset for the day. Seungyoon builds a nest of pillows to sleep in, and falls asleep while Seunghoon is still tapping away, the light his phone screen throwing weird shadows on the closed curtains at the other end of the room.

Seungyoon wakes up with the sun. Bleary eyed and sleepy limbed, he picks his phone up from the nightstand and messages Minho with, _let's go take photos of the sunset today._ And he falls asleep again, before the screen times out and turns off.

Over breakfast, peeling a soft boiled egg, Minho tells him yes. Seunghoon, breaking apart a giant slice of pineapple with his fingers, winks at Seungyoon. Jinwoo smirks down at his plate, and Seungyoon feels like they're all in on something that he's not a part of. The version of him that would be anxious about that has been left behind in Seoul, though, so instead of worrying, he helps himself to some more orange juice.

At sunset, he and Minho go to a part of the island that faces the lights of the beach in the distance, the other tip of the U curve of the bay. Minho's shirt is yellow, with the two top buttons undone, the colour a deep contrast against how tan his skin is now. The coastline on this side of the bay is just huge chunks of rock, boulders tossed into the shallows with the sea licking at their base, leaving barnacles in its wake. They step on the stones barefoot, because it's less slippery to walk than in flip flops. Minho takes photos of Seungyoon with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his slacks. He calls him a style icon because of how Seungyoon wears his sunglasses on the brim of his hat, and Seungyoon laughs it off. 

Seungyoon could have brought any of his cameras along for this, but he takes the Leica Q, the one that started this hobby, the one that Minho gave him. Minho had thought Seungyoon needed something else to take up his attention that wasn't Winner, because he was letting all the anxiety about the band eat at him with no respite. Seungyoon had needed a hobby, and Minho thought photography would be perfect — and he was right. The Leica Q is still the camera Seungyoon uses the most. He couldn't say it's his favourite, because it all changes depending if he's using digital or analog, and what film he's using. But that first one is special, still, because Minho looked at it and thought of him. It's like a little piece of Minho's love for him is in there somewhere, hidden in the circuitry.

He takes photos of Minho from the back, the top of his head level with the horizon as the sun sets. The sky is midnight blue at the top, and changes to indigo, to azure, to white, to yellow and to orange where it meets the sea, where the sun dips low. 

They find a rock big enough to fit them both and sit, shoulders touching, and wait for the sun to set all the way. After a while, Minho leans his head on Seungyoon's shoulder. "It's going to get cold soon," he says.

Seungyoon stares out at the sea. His eyes rest on the waves. "Remember our first night in LA, when the sun came down?"

Minho laughs. "None of us expected how cold it would get," he says. "I didn't know California in January could be that cold." Seungyoon still has a video of Seunghoon's teeth chattering saved to his camera roll. They'd all dressed for spring weather, but once it got dark, the cold was unforgiving. "It's different here, though. It's always warm," Minho says. "I want to stay."

"You would get bored after a while," Seungyoon kicks his legs. His bare toes skim the surface of the sea. "It stops being perfect if it's always perfect. It just becomes… Commonplace." The tide is going to start turning soon.

Minho hums thoughtfully. "No," he says. "I don't think so. I like who we are when we're here." He tries to copy what Seungyoon is doing and have his toes touch the water, but his legs aren't long enough to make it. "The hyungs are happy. Hoony hyung would move here if he could get Haute to go on a plane." Seungyoon smiles. "I haven't seen Jinwoo hyung laugh this much since Australia." Minho pats Seungyoon's thigh. "And you're different, too."

"How am I different?" Seungyoon asks, through his smile.

"You're more relaxed." Minho's hand is still on his thigh. The dusk breeze is starting to winnow its way under Seungyoon's shirt. "Your accent comes through more often, that means you're comfortable."

Seungyoon wants to take Minho's hand, and so he does. The movement of his arm makes Minho move his head from Seungyoon's shoulder. He sits up. Seungyoon leans his weight on his other arm. The rock they're sitting on is too small for any kind of dramatic movement, and their limbs keep bumping into each other.

Minho tangles their fingers together, and looks at Seungyoon. "You get what I mean, right?" The light is only going to be hitting his eyes, nose and cheekbones in that perfect way for another couple of minutes before the sun fully sets. Seungyoon so, so badly wants to take his camera out and take a photo, but that would mean letting go of Minho's hand.

"I get it." He rubs his thumb over the knuckle of Minho's thumb, the heel of his palm. 

"I could never get bored of this." Minho smiles as he says it.

He could mean this holiday, going to the beach every day, trying to surf, exploring the hidden nooks of the island, breathless with its beauty, eating at different restaurants every night and always eating well, the way they don't have to keep looking over their shoulder for cameras.

But, something in Seungyoon's heart whispers, Minho could also mean this — balmy sunsets with just the two of them, barefoot next to the sea, the breeze in Minho's hair, Seungyoon's warm hand in his. 

Minho is looking at him like the sunset doesn't exist, like it's not the reason they've been here for so long. He's looking at Seungyoon like there will be thousands of sunsets after it, just like this one, and they will all be gorgeous, and they will all be breathtaking, and they'll all feel like brand new — but none of them will compare with what Minho has in front of him right now, which is Kang Seungyoon, tanned, and smiling, and in love. 

Seungyoon listens to the whisper in his heart, and bows forward just a little bit.

He kisses Minho as the sun sinks under the horizon, orange into blue.

Minho's lips fall open like he's been anticipating it, and his tongue is soft and gentle, and he lets Seungyoon lead. Seungyoon licks into Minho's mouth, and pushes their tongues together until Minho hums at the back of his throat, and leans forward and into Seungyoon, so that Seungyoon has to hold onto his hat with one hand and onto Minho with the other, or risk losing both his hat and his balance. Seungyoon's chest overflows with warmth. He wants to laugh, but Minho keeps kissing him and taking all his breath from him. 

When they separate, Minho has a hand on the back of Seungyoon's neck, keeping their faces close. He lets Seungyoon catch his breath, only for a moment, and then he kisses him again, his tongue fitting into Seungyoon's mouth like he's thought about this before tonight, like he doesn't want to stop, even after the sun comes up tomorrow, even after they leave Hawaii.

Seungyoon wants to go back to his room, get his guitar and write a whole album about this moment. One song would be entirely dedicated to the way Minho takes his hat off and gently places it on the rock next to them, just so he can run his hand through Seungyoon's hair. A verse for how Minho keeps his hand on the hat so the wind doesn't blow it away, even as they keep kissing. Seungyoon thinks that his lips will be bruised at this rate, and he hopes that they are, and that Seunghoon asks about it, just so he can say to someone outloud that he kissed Minho. That Minho kissed _him._

Seungyoon traces the line of Minho's collarbone with his thumb. He runs his fingers over each one of the symbols tattooed at the base of Minho's neck — the rain cloud, the two clouds together, the storm cloud. And lastly, the sun. 

"See?" Minho says. The skin on the little sun is paler than on the other symbols. Minho had been leaving a thick layer of sunscreen on it, and putting a plaster over it when the sun got too strong, so that it wouldn't tan with the rest of him. So that everyone could see how he felt.

"I'm happy." Minho smiles. "I couldn't be happier."

"I know," Seungyoon says, because he does, and he kisses Minho again as the first star blinks alive in the sky.

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/doyoufanxy)


End file.
